NYS Senate leader called state teachers union to 'forces of evil'

Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Smithtown, speaks to members in the Senate Chamber at the Capitol on Jan. 4, 2017, in Albany. (Hans Pennink / AP)

ALBANY — The head of the state Senate blasted the powerful state teachers union as one of the “forces of evil.”

Appearing on upstate public radio’s “The Capitol Pressroom,” Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-Suffolk County) pointed out that the New York State United Teachers is one of the entities spending big to help the Democrats capture control of the chamber in the coming elections.

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“You have incumbents who are in tough races and you have what I describe as outside forces, some of them have now become almost like the forces of evil, spending millions and millions of dollars,” he said.

“I believe that NYSUT has demonstrated is what they want is one-party rule,” Flanagan said. “They don’t like the way things are going. They spent $5 million (against Republicans) in the last cycle. They gratuitously go after members of our conference. They’ve gone after me.”

He tried to distinguish between the union and it’s members, saying there are tens of thousands of good teachers.

“But the teachers union, they don’t want to have the Republicans there (in the Senate) because we don’t politely go along with every single thing that they want; and yet we have done more to help parents and students in our legislation,” he said.

Flanagan’s comments came the same day the Daily News reported that state Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox was filing a complaint with the state Board of Elections accusing NYSUT, the Communications Workers of America, and Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union of illegally coordinating with the Super PACs they have created to help flip the Senate to Democratic control.

NYSUT President Andy Pallotta said that “Sen. Flanagan must be getting desperate if he’s saying that more than 600,000 educators are forces for evil.”

“He had a chance to stand with teachers by reforming the state's broken testing and evaluation system but instead he chose to cozy up to Wall Street billionaires and the charter industry,” Pallotta added.

The Senate GOP blocked legislation this past legislative session that would have decoupled the results of state student tests from the teacher evaluation process.

Flanagan introduced a separate bill that would have made the change, but also would have increased the number of charter schools allowed by law, a provision opposed by legislative Democrats.

The Republicans heading into the election hold a razor thin one-seat majority, and that’s with the help of Sen. Simcha Felder, a Brooklyn Democrat who caucuses with the GOP.